I sat on the couch in my living room waiting for my "friends" to arrive. My basement was one of the most amazing play rooms in Pennsylvania, due to my parents and grandparents sport of spoiling me. There were so many toys, like more toys than I've ever seen in someone's house. We were a part of this group where moms got together once a week and all the kids played. However, I never liked to play with the kids. I would much rather sit with the adults and listen to them talk. I was probably 5 or 6 or 7 but I remember my favorite thing being to listen to adults talk to each other. They knew so much, and they had so much to do. Being a kid, I should not have worried about this, and I should have played with the other kids, because I will have the rest of my life to be old, but you can never be young. You can never be young. All this to say, from the very earliest stages of my life I have been different, I haven't fit in with the normal, and I've never wanted to. I was an outsider.
I won't stay here another night
If I gotta sacrifice
Who I am on the inside
I'd rather be an outsider
-Lecrae
I wake up after a late night. My eyes hurt, I've been FaceTiming a musician from Florida until 2 am the night before. I've been homeschooled my whole life until last year, when I entered high school, and started taking classed at Warrior Run High School, where my dad teaches high level biology. But today I have to wake up and go to class, just like every other week day. After my math and science classes, I eat lunch and leave to make it to Bloomsburg for my 12 o'clock class. It's a public speaking class. I have been coming to Bloomsburg for a couple weeks now, and still not many people know I am in 10th grade in high school. It's sort of strange I think, to be around people that have had more schooling in their life than me, but still in the same classes as me. From my experiences at college I realized that the kids here do not care nearly as much about doing well in school as I do. I am here to save money and time, and do as well as I possibly can, with as little distractions as possible. I'm not partying on the weekends, I'm not skipping class, and I’m trying to study even when I don't want to. I'm trying to be the best I can. Forget average. I don't always succeed, and sometimes I fail miserably. But I can assure I'm trying. Nobody else around me seems to be doing that. I'm an outsider.
And you can stay if you'd like
I'll see you on the other side
I wanna live the free life
I'd rather be an outsider
-Lecrae
I imagine walking into work, the Reach Records Headquarters in Atlanta. It is a busy day, I have a meeting with tour mangers trying to book GAWVI at 8:00am, then a writing session with Andy Mineo and Alex Medina at 10:00, and those usually last several hours. Since I'm in Atlanta, I'm going to meet up with my old friend Jamie Grace for lunch. After that we have another meeting to Google Hangout with Tom Jackson, to talk about drafting him to create Lecrae's next tour. It's going to be the biggest tour we've ever done, and we've already sold out the major arenas on ticket pre sale. I am the first one in this business from my area, or anywhere around my area. Many others are from bigger towns, and hardly go home to visit their families. Not me. My brother still lives in Watsontown, and we meet up there almost three times a month, because I often have to go up to New York and work with Andy in his area. I feel as though I fit in with my coworkers. We all have the same passion and vision. Glorify God as much as we can through music. It's like a dream. I still go by what I always have went by - "Making much of someone much greater than me." At this time, I do not feel like an outsider. But we are so much different than the world and the culture, even though we are creating the culture. It's hard to explain, but to the world, we are outsiders.
Now I realize that I'm free
And I realize that I'm me
And I found out that I'm not alone cause' there's plenty people like me
That's right there's plenty people like me
All love me, despite me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to speak out for what we might see
I said there's plenty people like me
All outsiders like me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to live out what they supposed to be
Outsiders
-Lecrae
Tristan Peace
4/22/15
I sat on the couch in my living room waiting for my "friends" to arrive. My basement was one of the most amazing play rooms in Pennsylvania, due to my parents and grandparents sport of spoiling me. There were so many toys, like more toys than I've ever seen in someone's house. We were a part of this group where moms got together once a week and all the kids played. However, I never liked to play with the kids. I would much rather sit with the adults and listen to them talk. I was probably 5 or 6 or 7 but I remember my favorite thing being to listen to adults talk to each other. They knew so much, and they had so much to do. Being a kid, I should not have worried about this, and I should have played with the other kids, because I will have the rest of my life to be old, but you can never be young. You can never be young. All this to say, from the very earliest stages of my life I have been different, I haven't fit in with the normal, and I've never wanted to. I was an outsider.
I won't stay here another night
If I gotta sacrifice
Who I am on the inside
I'd rather be an outsider
-Lecrae
I wake up after a late night. My eyes hurt, I've been FaceTiming a musician from Florida until 2 am the night before. I've been homeschooled my whole life until last year, when I entered high school, and started taking classed at Warrior Run High School, where my dad teaches high level biology. But today I have to wake up and go to class, just like every other week day. After my math and science classes, I eat lunch and leave to make it to Bloomsburg for my 12 o'clock class. It's a public speaking class. I have been coming to Bloomsburg for a couple weeks now, and still not many people know I am in 10th grade in high school. It's sort of strange I think, to be around people that have had more schooling in their life than me, but still in the same classes as me. From my experiences at college I realized that the kids here do not care nearly as much about doing well in school as I do. I am here to save money and time, and do as well as I possibly can, with as little distractions as possible. I'm not partying on the weekends, I'm not skipping class, and I’m trying to study even when I don't want to. I'm trying to be the best I can. Forget average. I don't always succeed, and sometimes I fail miserably. But I can assure I'm trying. Nobody else around me seems to be doing that. I'm an outsider.
And you can stay if you'd like
I'll see you on the other side
I wanna live the free life
I'd rather be an outsider
-Lecrae
I imagine walking into work, the Reach Records Headquarters in Atlanta. It is a busy day, I have a meeting with tour mangers trying to book GAWVI at 8:00am, then a writing session with Andy Mineo and Alex Medina at 10:00, and those usually last several hours. Since I'm in Atlanta, I'm going to meet up with my old friend Jamie Grace for lunch. After that we have another meeting to Google Hangout with Tom Jackson, to talk about drafting him to create Lecrae's next tour. It's going to be the biggest tour we've ever done, and we've already sold out the major arenas on ticket pre sale. I am the first one in this business from my area, or anywhere around my area. Many others are from bigger towns, and hardly go home to visit their families. Not me. My brother still lives in Watsontown, and we meet up there almost three times a month, because I often have to go up to New York and work with Andy in his area. I feel as though I fit in with my coworkers. We all have the same passion and vision. Glorify God as much as we can through music. It's like a dream. I still go by what I always have went by - "Making much of someone much greater than me." At this time, I do not feel like an outsider. But we are so much different than the world and the culture, even though we are creating the culture. It's hard to explain, but to the world, we are outsiders.
Now I realize that I'm free
And I realize that I'm me
And I found out that I'm not alone cause' there's plenty people like me
That's right there's plenty people like me
All love me, despite me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to speak out for what we might see
I said there's plenty people like me
All outsiders like me
And all unashamed and all unafraid to live out what they supposed to be
Outsiders
-Lecrae